The Parks Canada bargaining team met with the employer on January 17-19 to discuss non-monetary items and to table monetary proposals to improve working conditions for more than 5,000 Parks Canada members across the country.
The bargaining team reiterated key issues that matter to members – wages that keep up with soaring inflation, exploitation of workers through part-time and seasonal contracts, and an acknowledgement of the unique positions of park wardens as peace officers.
We need wages that keep up, because members are already falling behind
The current collective agreement that covers Parks Canada members expired in August 2021. This means that while inflation has skyrocketed, Parks Canada members have been struggling to keep up.
If you haven’t already, use our inflation calculator to assess the value of your real wage when adjusted for changes in consumer prices to understand why we’re fighting for fair wages that keep up with rising costs.
Highlights of the Parks monetary demands
Three years of increases that reflect real inflationary pressures on members in the hardest hit regions and the uncertainty of the year ahead
2021: 5.5%
2022: 8.5%
2023: 8%
Market Adjustments and Restructuring based on internal and external comparators (see Monetary Package for full details)
New allowances and improvements to existing allowances
A new physical fitness allowance of $600/year
A new term and seasonal employee housing allowance
A new proposal tying increases for existing allowances to future economic increases
Overuse of seasonal and part-time contracts is unacceptable
From coast to coast to coast, thousands of Parks Canada frontline workers contribute to the wellbeing of communities, natural spaces, waterways, and countless other environments that we all benefit from. Parks Canada is the only known federal law enforcement department or agency that employs peace officers on a seasonal basis.
Your bargaining team is fighting for fair contracts for more than half of Parks Canada workers who do not have full-time positions even when they’re required year-round. These workers deserve a fair contract.
The Parks Canada bargaining team will be meeting with the employer February 7-9 for the next bargaining session where we hope to make some progress on advancing the members’ demands. The team continues to show up for members at the table with comprehensive proposals while the employer, unfortunately, continues to drag their feet.
Following PSAC’s announcement, UNE wants to ensure that our members have the following information around strike training, strike action, as well as strike pay.
What was announced?
It’s important to know that we are not yet at strike action. What was announced today is a strike vote. This means that all UNE members who are covered by the Treasury Board collective agreements, will be able to vote on taking strike action in the coming months. This vote is crucially important and demonstrates to the employer that we are ready to fight for what we deserve.
Register now to take part in the strike vote. Once you’ve attended an info session, you have the whole voting period to submit your vote!
Where can I get more information about a potential strike?
We have been receiving many questions about strike action in the past weeks, and while we love hearing from you, we recognize that everyone is looking for information and the PSAC has put together an online strike course that answers most of your questions! Register here.
PSAC also has a strike manual that you can find here.
Furthermore, the PSAC has organized town halls that you can register to attend. Find the list here.
How much is strike pay?
PSAC pays members 75$ per day for each member who takes part in strike action.
Who do I contact for more information around strike?
Seeing as the entity responsible for bargaining is the PSAC, they are best placed to be able to answer your specific questions. The best course of action if you have outstanding questions if to contact your PSAC Regional Office.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, you and other PSAC members have stepped up by helping Canadians when they needed it most — whether your work got done from home or the workplace.
But instead of showing their appreciation for workers at the bargaining table, all we’ve seen from Treasury Board is total disrespect and disregard for the issues that matter most to PSAC members.
We need to hold the line on fair wages that will prevent you from falling further behind as the cost of living increases. We believe in good, secure public service jobs, and an end to contracting out and privatization within the federal public service. We’re calling for solutions to harassment, discrimination and systemic racism in the workplace, so all workers feel safe on the job. And we’ll continue to fight to enshrine remote work and the right to disconnect in our collective agreements for better work-life balance.
Good wages. Protection from discrimination. Safe workplaces. Work-life balance. Is that too much to ask? We don’t think so.
Unfortunately, Treasury Board is hell-bent on pushing through serious concessions that impact your rights, including reducing job security and access to some leaves. And their insulting wage offer of 2.06% per year over four years is asking more than 120,000 hard-working PSAC members to take a big pay cut
To add insult to injury, the government imposed a flawed hybrid work plan on federal public service workers just days before the holidays, even though we’re negotiating remote work at the table and we’ve continued to serve Canadians effectively regardless of where the work gets done.
You deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Treasury Board’s stalling tactics and demands for major concessions are unacceptable and are hurting our members and their families. That’s why we need your support.
Going on strike is never our first choice and it doesn’t mean we’ll automatically call one. But securing a strong strike mandate from our membership shows we’re willing to fight and will give us the leverage we need to reach a fair and decent contract. And if we need to take job action to get the collective agreement you deserve, then that’s exactly what we’ll do.
Together, we have the strength in numbers to fight for a contract that makes real gains for our members. This is our opportunity to make a meaningful difference in our workplaces, and we strongly urge you to vote in favour of a strike mandate. To give you as many opportunities as possible to participate in strike votes, we’ll be holding strike information sessions both in-person and virtually.
Your voting credentials will be sent to your personal, non-work email or by mail to your home address if we don’t have a personal email on file. You will need these credentials to register for a strike vote session. All virtual sessions are national votes, so you may register for any virtual session. If you haven’t received your voting credentials from PSAC via your personal, non-work email or mail, you may need to update your contact information before you can register to vote.
Thank you for your continued support.
In solidarity,
Chris Aylward National President Public Service Alliance of Canada
The 2023 lineup of UNE Regional Seminars is coming up fast! Are you registered? UNE Regional Seminars are an ideal place to learn about our union and the things we do.
These events are jam-packed with lectures and workshops to help you gain the knowledge and confidence you’ll need to represent our members. Regional seminars are also a great place to meet members just like you and forge long-lasting friendships.
We currently have five seminars scheduled over the next two months:
The Ontario seminar will be held in Niagara Falls February 9-12.
The NCR Combined seminar is for members of Ottawa-TB, Gatineau-TB, NCR-SE and Outside Canada. This seminar will be held February 16-19 in Gatineau.
If you are in the BC & Yukon Region, your seminar is scheduled for March 2-5 in Victoria.
The Manitoba seminar will be March 16-19 in Winnipeg.
Finally, the Alberta, NWT & Nunavut Region is holding its seminar in Yellowknife March 23-26.
The Union of National Employees was placed in trusteeship by the PSAC National Board of Directors on October 21, 2022. Since then, several updates have been made to help the component progress on its journey out of trusteeship, with a goal of accomplishing this in time for next August when the Triennial Convention is scheduled.
UNE was placed in trusteeship due to governance issues and not for financial reasons. UNE currently finds itself in a very sound financial position. As a result, all elected officers were relieved of their positions and the membership will elect a new National Executive at the next Convention.
What does this mean for members of UNE?
For members looking for help, support and service levels remain unchanged, and every effort will be made to maintain business as usual. UNE staff and local officers remain available to provide assistance and support to the UNE membership. Elected officers have been replaced by Deputy Trustees who have been assigned to each region. The Deputy Trustees are here to support Locals with their work, including representing UNE on LMCC’s running general meetings, working on grievances and staffing complaints.
You can find each Deputy Trustee, their assigned region, and their contact information on the UNE website:
https://unesen.ca/who_we_are/regions/
Chris Little-Gagne = Ottawa/Gatineau
Diane Levola = Ontario
Yvon Beaudoin = Quebec
Geoff Ryan = Alberta/NWT/Nunavut
Gail Budgell = Atlantic
Gloria Pfeifer = Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Shirley Torres = British Columbia/Yukon
The trusteeship has not changed the roles and responsibilities of UNE locals or local officers. Members are expected to continue to contact their Locals as their first point of contact. They will then contact the assigned Deputy Trustee, as required.
Any questions about component business can be directed to the Deputy Trustees or UNE Staff.
Questions about Trusteeship should be directed to John Gordon, Administrator or Mark Pecek, Assistant Administrator.
The PSAC National Board of Directors (NBoD) has placed the Union of National Employees (UNE) in trusteeship, effective October 24, 2022. The NBoD has appointed PSAC National Executive Vice-President Sharon DeSousa as Trustee of UNE.
Maintaining service and representation to UNE members remains our priority. UNE members should continue to contact their Local representative or their UNE National Labour Relations Officer for representation assistance. The operations of UNE shall continue during this period, and PSAC remains dedicated to working with UNE members and staff to uphold the responsibilities of UNE.
Further information will be shared as soon as possible.
The Council for Global Equality have partnered with Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania to launch the first ever global LGBTQI perception index, which is aiming to get a comparative sense of how LGBTQI people in different countries feel about their human rights and safety in their countries. They’ve received 165,000 responses so far, but have indicated to me that the responses from Canada are fairly low, with only about 1,800 Canadians responding. They’d like to increase that number and if you are able to share this out to your networks, that would be great. I did the survey and it really is only a few questions and doesn’t take more than a minute.
Chris Little-Gagné (he/him/il) UNE National Equity Representative for 2SLGBTQ+
A look back on John Watkins and the 2SLGBTQ+ Purge by the Canadian Government
By Kay Hacker
Content warning: This article includes explicit descriptions of systematic, institutionalized homophobia and transphobia, as well as non-graphic descriptions of violence against members of the LGBTQ2S+ community. This article also contains non-graphic mentions of torture and death. Finally, this article talks in-depth about police violence and police brutality involving the RCMP.
Every June, the rainbow flags come out for the ultimate celebration of love and all the diverse forms it takes- a way to celebrate our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two-Spirit and otherwise Queer and Trans (LGBTQ2S+) siblings in all their beautiful diversity. Many people wonder- why June, specifically?
Well, Pride isn’t always in June. In fact, in Vancouver, Pride is usually celebrated in August! This year marks Vancouver Pride’s 44th anniversary. But internationally, June is recognized as Pride month as a result of the Stonewall Riots in New York City. The Stonewall Inn is a well-known gathering place for LGBTQ2S+ people. In the 60s, it was subject to frequent police harassment. When the police raided the bar in 1969, the patrons (many of whom were trans women of colour) fought back and rioted against police brutality.
See, that’s the thing about Pride: it’s more than just a rainbow party, and more than just a celebration. Pride is a reminder to keep fighting. Pride is a reminder that we as LGBTQ2S+ people are still here, a rebuke and vindication against those who have tried to erase us.
Let me tell you about this fight. Let me tell you about the history of LGBTQ2S+ membership in the public service.
In the 1950s and 60s, the Canadian government made a concerted effort to remove any “suspected homosexuals” (not the words we would use today) from the public service. At first, the focus was mainly on MSM (men who have sex with men), as well as men who acted in ways that did not conform to their expected gender roles, such as wearing the wrong kind of clothes, since the vast majority of public servants were men. WSW (women who have sex with women) and women who acted outside their expected gender roles were also subject to persecution.
Why? Because they stepped outside of what society expected and that was considered dangerous. This was the Cold War, and for the Canadian government it was Us against Them. And there could be no “homosexuals” on our side, therefore They must be against Us.
It was considered a threat to national security to have LGBTQ2S+ people in the public service and specifically in the diplomatic apparatus, since gay public servants might be vulnerable to blackmail. Anything other than perfectly adhering to the gender you were assigned at birth and being attracted to the correct gender in the correct way left folks exposed to violence, discrimination and even criminal prosecution. So, according to the Canadian government, the best way to make the public service less vulnerable to blackmail was to uncover and uproot every possible weak spot (read: LGBTQ2S+ person) before the Russians could.
Despite the fact that there was no evidence of any successful attempts to blackmail LGBTQ2S+ members of the public service, the RCMP launched a massive campaign to unearth any member of the public service suspected of “perversion”. They monitored LGBTQ2S+ establishments and photographed patrons, conducted brutal interviews of suspected and confirmed gay public servants and tracked people down in their private lives. I invite you to think of each violation of these peoples’ basic human rights as an act of violence. LGBTQ2S+ public servants were forced into hiding, fearing for their jobs and for their safety. Thousands of “suspected homosexuals” were put on file in what is now called the LGBTQ purge.
All of this happened at the same time that the Public Service Alliance of Canada was taking shape and stepping up for public servants. This happened when my grandparents were finishing high school. You might have been alive when this happened- you certainly know at least one person who was.
I’m only telling you a small portion of the story today. I want to include so much and I know that there is still so much left to uncover. And at the same time, writing this article has been very difficult for me. Each personal narrative that I read, every article trying to capture the sea of pain in a tidy bucket… it feels like a punch in the gut. This is my community- both the LGBTQ2S+ community, and the public service.
To end this article, I want to tell you the part of the story that hit me the hardest and has stuck with me, even now: the story of one man, one victim of the LGBTQ purge. For me, the entire LGBTQ purge is filtered through his experience.
Let me tell you about John Watkins.
John Watkins was Canada’s first ambassador to Moscow. By all records, he was quite good at it, arranging for a landmark meeting between Lester B. Pearson (then-minister for external affairs) and Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. He was a good diplomat, and a good man- popular in the public service, always with a story to tell. He was also a man who was attracted to other men. John Watkins died in 1964 at the age of 62, in a hotel in Montreal, of a heart attack. He died at the end of a four-hour long interrogation by the RCMP. By that point, he had been under constant surveillance and daily 3–4-hour interrogations for almost a month.
I would classify 28 days of interrogation as torture. The RCMP classified it as “need-to-know” information, had him declared dead of a totally coincidental heart attack and kept the reality of the situation secret until 1981. The purge of LGBTQ2S+ public servants continued until the early 1970s. LGBTQ2S+ purges continued in the RCMP and the military up until the 1990s.
The government apologized for the purge in 2017, a year before I joined the public service, and paid out a settlement to many of those affected, after victims spent years fighting for recognition.
This is not ancient history- this is living memory. As we celebrate Pride this year, as we lift up LGBTQ2S+ people in our lives, we must remember what came before- the bloody, brutal fight for recognition, and the many barriers towards LGBTQ2S+ survival. Those of us in the PSAC must recognize the history of violence against our LGBTQ2S+ members and work to avoid perpetuating this harm ourselves. The union was not able to protect LGBTQ2S+ members in the past. We will do better this time. We must.
I ask you, this Pride season, as you put up rainbow stickers and temporary tattoos, to remember John Watkins. Remember where we came from. Allies must learn to live with this tragic history, hold space for our pain, because for LGBTQ2S+ public servants, this tragedy is inescapable. It is part of the burden taken on when we chose to be public servants, and it is a burden borne most heavily by public servants who are out and proud.
We must all work towards a better future. The battle for LGBTQ2S+ rights is not over just because June has passed. LGTBQ2S+ people invited you to the party. Now, we invite you to the fight.
Kay Hacker –Local 20278.
Sources:
Levy, R. (2018, October 3). Canada’s Cold War purge of LGBTQ from public service. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 2022, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lgbtq-purge-in-canada
Our history. Public Service Alliance of Canada. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2022, from https://psacunion.ca/our-history
UPI. (1981, December 23). RCMP interrogation of Canada’s first ambassador to Moscow, John Watkins, was kept secret to prevent scandal and to keep counter-espionage operations under wraps. UPI. Retrieved June 2022, from https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/12/23/RCMP-interrogation-of-Canadas-first-ambassador-to-Moscow-John/1926377931600/
Your Regional Team invites you to participate in the Saskatchewan Regional Seminar scheduled to take place at the Hilton DoubleTree September 16-18, 2022.
UNE Regional Seminars are packed with presentations, workshops and training that will give you the knowledge and tools to help your members. They are also a great place to meet other activists and forge long-lasting friendships.
UNE will fund two (2) participants and an additional (1) youth participant per Local:
The Local President or designate;
A member who has not previously attended a seminar should be given priority
A youth member (age 35 or younger as of December 31, 2023).
Locals should also encourage the participation of equity members and may send additional members at the Local’s expense.
Participants will be expected to arrive for on-site registration at 7:00 p.m. Friday evening, September 16, 2022. Accommodations will be arranged for delegates to spend two nights at the hotel for the Friday and Saturday night of the Seminar as activities are scheduled to take place into the evenings. The Seminar ends on Sunday, September 18 at 12:00p.m.
You must apply by Friday, August 26, 2022. Unfortunately, we will not consider late applications.
Your Regional Team invites you to participate in the Quebec Regional Seminar scheduled to take place at the Delta Trois-Rivières September 9-11, 2022.
UNE Regional Seminars are packed with presentations, workshops and training that will give you the knowledge and tools to help your members. They are also a great place to meet other activists and forge long-lasting friendships.
UNE will fund two (2) participants and an additional (1) youth participant per Local:
The Local President or designate;
A member who has not previously attended a seminar should be given priority
A youth member (age 35 or younger as of December 31, 2023).
Locals should also encourage the participation of equity members and may send additional members at the Local’s expense.
Participants will be expected to arrive for on-site registration at 7:00 p.m. Friday evening, September 9, 2022. Accommodations will be arranged for delegates to spend two nights at the hHotel for the Friday and Saturday night of the Seminar as activities are scheduled to take place into the evenings. The Seminar ends on Sunday, September 11 at 12:00p.m.
You must apply by Friday, August 5, 2022. Unfortunately, we will not consider late applications.
